Praetura Ventures names former Apple exec, prolific health entrepreneur, and former ANS CTO as partners as it eyes another year of growth

Praetura Ventures has appointed three experienced industry leaders as Partners to support its ambitions to grow its presence within the tech and health sectors.

Lee Forster, Colin Greene and Andy Barrow have all been named Partners at the Manchester-based venture capital (VC) investor. This comes as it aims to bolster its backing for its growing portfolio of businesses and identify new early-stage investment opportunities.

Lee, a former Team GB swimmer-turned-prolific health entrepreneur, is the chairman and exited founder of bespoke supplement subscription brand Neat Nutrition, which has sold more than a million products in 32 countries since launching in 2015.

Prior to starting Neat, Forster also launched his own healthcare strategy consulting company within KnowledgePoint360 Group, ahead of the company being sold to UDG and Forster joining the product development giant Science Group as the company’s Group SVP and head of commercial strategy.

At Praetura, he will oversee all health and life sciences investments, drawing on his experience and track record to identify new businesses and provide expert support. Forster will also work closely with the GMC Life Sciences Fund by Praetura, a £20m life sciences focused fund launched in 2022 in partnership with Greater Manchester Combined Authority, Cheshire and Warrington LEP and Bruntwood SciTech.

Joining Lee is Silicon Valley leader Colin Greene, who spent 12 years at Apple in various senior country leader roles in Asia and the US before joining Praetura in 2021 as part of the VC’s Operational Partner programme. The Operational Partner team consists of eight experienced mentors who’ve helped scale AO Group, The Co-operative Bank, Dr. Martens, MPP Global, OSTC, Social Chain and many others to success.

Colin will oversee Praetura’s growth platform which provides ‘more than money’ support to the Praetura portfolio, including assigning Operational Partners to help founders in areas ranging from culture and hiring to expanding internationally.

The final Partner is Andy Barrow, who initially joined the business as an Operational Partner in 2022. Andy will use his considerable industry know-how to oversee new investment opportunities in growing tech businesses and help existing portfolio businesses to scale and develop.

Andy previously spent over 15 years as CTO of cloud computing giant ANS until its sale to Inflexion, during which time he helped transform the company into a breakout Northern success employing over 300 staff.

In addition to the appointment of the new Partners, Praetura has promoted Sim Singh-Landa to Investment Director and Tom Hardman to Portfolio Director.

David Foreman, Managing Partner of Praetura Ventures, said: “We’ve worked closely with Lee, Colin and Andy and have been incredibly impressed with their vision for Praetura Ventures and the quality of support they’ve provided to our portfolio. Between them, they boast a colossal amount of experience across tech, health and the wider life sciences space, and I am incredibly excited to be working with them as Partners.

“The North’s ecosystem is bursting with untapped potential, with so many exceptional founders creating countless new, innovative businesses with global ambitions. These appointments mark a major step towards realising Praetura’s goal to be the VC of choice for founders, investors and advisers in the North of England.”

Lee, Colin and Andy will all join the board of Praetura Ventures, which is predominantly focused on tech, health and life sciences, and will take a more prominent role in identifying the businesses the company invests in.

Last year, Praetura Ventures invested £30m into early-stage companies and grew its portfolio to 33 businesses. It also became the largest partner on British Business Investments’ regional angels programme, which aims to rebalance the access to equity investment for start-ups across the UK.